There is more than a hint of surrealism in the air this evening as a larger-than-life band such as the Deftones packing themselves into a tiny venue in the centre of London certainly doesn’t happen that often. Walking around to join the end of the queue on this mildly chilly Wednesday night and it is plain to see the excitement plastered on the faces of the lucky few anxious to witness this rather special event.

Tonight the venue is packed to the rafters with a noticeably more mature audience, many of whom have undoubtedly grown up through the Sacramento 5-pieces’ various musical incarnations. As soon as they hit the stage it is easy to see why the Deftones have built and maintained such a loyal fan base over the years.

Kicking off with free download offering ‘Rocket Skates’ followed by new single ‘Diamond Eyes’, the band prove (not that they had to!) that they still have the ability to write songs that will transform a room into a mass of writhing bodies at the drop of a hat. The intimate venue can barely seem to contain the energy resonating from the stage and it seems at any moment the building will be ripped from it foundations. Unfazed by this, the band plow through a selection of new material with such total professionalism that you would be forgiven for thinking they have been playing these songs for years.

However tonight is not just about the new and ‘When Girls Telephone Boys’, ‘Lotion’ and ‘Feiticeira’ act as a stark reminder of the quality that lies within their extensive back catalogue. The crowd is made to turn back the years with ‘Be Quiet and Drive’ and a belting rendition of ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ and a new leaner-looking Chino Moreno controls the stage, climbing monitors and whirring his microphone above his head with admirable enthusiasm.

Man-mountain Steph Carpenter effortlessly grinds out a selection of the heaviest guitar riffs known to man as stand-in bass player Sergio Vega gives a noteworthy performance in control of the rhythm section.

My personal highlight of the night comes in the form of ‘Passenger’ from 2000’s landmark ‘White Pony’ album and although the track is flawless, there will always be an undeniable sense of disappointment when Tool’s Maynard James Keenan doesn’t appear through a cloud of smoke and lights to sing his parts.

As the hour and 45 min set draws to a close, the band pull out more old crowd-pleasers including ‘Root’ and rapturous sing along anthem ‘7 words’ from debut album 'Adrenaline'.

As the final chord rings out and the crowd begins to disperse, I can’t help but think how much the music world needs bands like the Deftones.

These are the clip logs for a documentary being worked on by myself and Mark Lovell at University. There are two documentaries being made one filming of Winchester which will include Winchester from dawn to dusk (Doc 1). The other is a profile in the form of a 'day in the life of'. Our profile was a coffee shop worker (Doc 2).Log of Shots (Doc 1)

OK, so I know this is a bit late in coming but better late than never. Due to financial and accommodation hardships I had to cut down my original month long placement to 3 weeks at Rock Sound but in the end I felt I chose a good time to leave.

My final week coincided with the final deadline for issue 132 (out 3rd February and featuring yours truly so buy it!) which meant it was understandably quite busy around the office.

The sense of anticipation surrounding this show becomes evident as soon as I walk out of Camden Tube Station. Twenty minutes before doors open and there is already a cue of dedicated fans braving the cold to grab a good spot to see Chicago's finest.

The Media Guardian reported that Peaches Geldof received "substantial damages" from the Daily Star this week, over a front-page headline that read "Peaches: spent the night with me for £5k".

The issue arose because the story claimed that Geldof accepted appearance fees for turning up to parties and launches and Geldof's solicitor Jonathan Coad said it implied Ms Geldof "provided services of a personal sexual nature for the payment of a fee".

The story was originally published in September 2008 and Peaches initially went to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) about the item, but was unhappy with the result.

The paper refused to print a retraction on the front page and instead published it on page 2 where Peaches believed it was not "adequately prominent".

The newspaper's solicitor, Zoe Norden, said it accepted all that had been said by Coad.

Managed to get some fun things done this week including transcribing a couple of interviews with none other than Tom Delonge (Blink 182, Angels And Airwaves) and a very funny one with Mastodon about life on the road. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for them in the new issue.

Today I also wrote a piece about a new Welsh band called Bastions who are awesome so check them out.

Well, the first week is over and again apologies for the lack of updates. I also want to apologise for the lack of pictures to accompany this post. I would say that I forgot to take my camera, but the truth is I really didn't want to be known as ‘that weird new guy who takes photos of everything.’

It’s been an eventful week and I pretty much expected it to be. The place where I am stationed is in a lovely part of London, very close to Liverpool Street Station. The office is a bit smaller than I originally thought it would be but I suppose Rock Sound isn’t a huge international operation. The people are really nice and although they are obviously very busy, they have still found time to have a chat with me whenever they get a bit of free time.

The place I was staying at for the week was, ahem, basic to say the least! I don’t really know what I was expecting for £20 a night in London but I mean a TV would have been nice!

I have been assigned several jobs which range from sorting and collecting the post to making the tea! I am also responsible for emailing and collecting all the review artwork for the next issue and making sure the gig listings are up-to-date. I have also completed a couple of reviews which I am hoping will be in the next edition which is out on the 3rd Feb. Note - This is incredibly exciting to me so please buy it!

The hardest thing to get my head round is listening to the people at Rock Sound talk so casually about these big rock stars (big to me anyway!). Yesterday, I was sat next to a chap who was having a full on conversation with Justin Beck from Glassjaw and there was talking today of an imminent interview with Tom Delonge from Blink 182. Now, to me, these two bands are a huge deal! I guess these guys are used to dealing with musicians on a daily basis whereas I am more used to sitting in my room and listening to their records so I guess i've idolised them a bit too much, they are only people in the end!

But the weirdest thing about the whole experience has to be the fact that the subeditor who originally gave me my work experience placement actually comes from Wolverhampton and used to frequently go to the same gigs as I did back in the day. It’s a very small world!

About Me

I am currently in my final year at Winchester University studying Journalism. I hope to become a music journalist although I now realise how difficult it would be to make a living from. Im currently assessing my career options so any suggestions would be welcomed!